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ZXChess II
Reviews Summary Sinclair User Issue 1 Writer: Phil Garratt Several chess programs exist, although the only one I have is Artic ZX chess. It plays an impressive game on six levels, the first three levels responding in less than 10 seconds, 40 seconds and five minutes respectively. Every level plays good chess but tends to lack an end-game strategy. Recently I have seen the latest version of the program, which has minor bugs corrected, although the input has been made a little more complicated. In addition, the level one time has been reduced from 10 to two seconds and the others speeded accordingly. Your Computer Issue 10 Writer: Eric Deeson Artic's Chess II — at £15 compared with £10 for version I — has seven skill levels, a bestmove facility, save and copy, and a printout of the moves at the end. A version has been developed for the Quicksilva character board, overcoming the rather annoying use of alpha characters. It is easy enough to play, although the move-entry routines are rather confusing. ZX Chess II is fast, and plays well at all levels. The board display is enormous, leaving only just enough room for current and last moves. We could not make the move-recommend facility work, but otherwise found this game most impressive. ZX Computing Issue 3 Writer: Nick Pearce Originally I intended just to review the Psion program, as part of my review of the new Sinclair ZX81 software, but decided that a comparison with ZX Chess 11 by Artic, fast becoming the standard for ZX chess, would be more appropriate. The comparison, although interesting, is perhaps a little unfair. Chess 11 currently retails at £9.95, while the Psion program, together with CHESS CLOCK on the other side of the cassette, sells for £3.00 less. Both programs display the board on the screen, and pieces are represented by letters, K for King, Q for Queen, B for Bishop and so on, with the colour of the piece being the colour of the displayed letter, inverse letters for black pieces. Both games use the standard algebraic system of chess notation for the board co-ordinates, although the Artic program is the only one which actually puts these co-ordinates on the screen. The Artic board is always displayed the same way up, no matter which end the human is playing from, while the Psion board is shown with the player at the bottom. I feel this makes the Psion program rather easier to play. Although I expected to, I did not find the lack of co-ordinates on the screen a disadvantage, as I found with both programs it was only really possible to play a normal game by having a proper board set up beside the TV anyway. Both programs give you the option of setting up a game position. The Artic program requires you to set up a piece by first defining the co-ordinates, then entering a code for the piece you want there. On the Psion board, you use a cursor ( = ) to move pieces around the board. A deficiency with the Psion program for the serious player is the lack of a 'game save' facility, which the Artic program includes. Psion's also lacks the ability to print out a copy of the screen at any time, or a list of moves. Against this, I particularly liked the Psion feature of being able to resign at any time to start a new game. If you get fed up with a game on the Artic program, you have to either continue to the bitter end, or switch off and reload to start a new game. So much for the immediately apparent differences between the two programs. I'll look now at how well they actually play. Both allow castling and en-passant moves, and neither permits illegal moves. I do not play a particularly good chess game, and consequently found both programs hard to beat, even on the lowest levels. Both games seemed to go for check whenever possible, even if they were not in a position to sustain an effective attack. During one game with the Psion program, the program repeatedly went for check from a losing position, and in so doing sacrificed its remaining valuable pieces. This left me with an overwhelming piece advantage, from which I was able to win easily. However, this was a rather unusual finish to a game against the Psion program. In most games I played, the Psion program put up a good, solid defence, and was not easy to beat. In order to obtain a comparison between the two programs, a friend lent me his ZX81, and I played one program against the other. The levels of play of each program are related to the time taken to respond to a move, and are not directly compatible between the two programs. I rang the changes between the three easiest Artic, and the two easiest Psion, levels of play. I must stress that this comparison is a little unfair, as the Psion does not claim to play chess to the standard of the more expensive Artic game. As you may have anticipated, the Artic program played the stronger game. To Psion's credit, three of the ten games were held to a draw. Artic won six, Psion won one. In a game between Psion on the ZX81, playing white, and Sargon 11 on Tandy, Sargon won, but took some 45 moves to do so. Both played at level one. Both the Psion and the Artic chess programs play a reasonable game. The Artic program plays a stronger, more sophisticated game, and with its save and move listing features will be the more attractive for serious users. For the casual player, who wants just an occasional game of chess, Psion is a reasonable alternative. The Psion program is more user-friendly, and I particularly liked its 'resign' facility. There is little doubt that most ZX81 owners will learn a bit more about their computers, and the game of chess, through playing against any of these programs. On the B side of Psion's chess is CHESS CLOCK. This simulates the clock used in tournaments to limit the amount of time taken for each move. Two digital readouts display the time taken by each player. I thought that CHESS CLOCK was a bit of a gimmick, and unlikely to be used seriously. There might be a few dedicated players who would be prepared to use a ZX81 and a television to time-keep during serious games. I thought the Sinclair advertisement for CHESS CLOCK somewhat misleading. It cannot be used at the same time as the chess program itself as it implied by the statement"... can be used at any time", unless you happen to have two television sets and two ZX81s. Category:ZX81 Games Category:Artic Computing Category:Sinclair User Reviews Category:Your Computer Reviews Category:ZX Computing Reviews